Complete Story

06/23/2017

Coming in April 2018: New Medicare Card, New Number

Medicare is taking steps to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards. In April 2018, people with Medicare will begin receiving new Medicare cards, replacing all cards by April 2019. These cards will have a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) number that is randomly generated with “non-intelligent” characters that do not have any hidden or special meaning.

If you currently send Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) Medicare claims to the RRB Specialty Medicare Administrative Contractor, Palmetto GBA, you will notice a change with the new cards:

You will no longer be able to distinguish people with Railroad Medicare by the number

on the card.

The RRB will continue to send cards with the RRB logo to people with Railroad